Commissioning and personalizing devices in a local area network

Abstract

The invention discloses devices and methods to commission (i.e. perform joining and binding) and, as an option to personalize, a Home/Local Area Network installed in a building. Preferably, the network is a Zigbee network. The devices comprise a Smart Electric Controller (SEC) equipped with a Zigbee T/R unit and a control circuit, and a Remote Control, equipped with a Zigbee T/R unit and an input module. The joining is triggered by a first predefined event that may be a validation by a network node of a joining request initiated on power up of the SEC or on an electromagnetic signal transmitted in a pair-to-pair communication between the SEC and a network node. The binding is triggered by a second predefined event that may be a taptap or a proximity of a SEC detected by an accelerometer or a proximity sensor embedded in the RC. It may be alternatively triggered by the validation of reception an electromagnetic signal transmitted in a pair-to-pair communication between the RC and the SEC. On binding, a table of the commands fit for controlling the SEC may be made available to the RC, so that the RC is immediately configured to operate the adequate commands.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A smart electric controller comprising:
 a communication link to an RF network; 
 a processor; 
 a memory storing a table of data representative of a plurality of states of the smart electric controller or values measured or received at the smart electric controller; 
 
       the processor being configured to:
 cause a joining of the smart electric controller to the RF network on one of a first predefined event or a single predefined event; 
 cause a binding of a remote control to the smart electric controller on one of a second predefined event, or the single predefined event, said one of the second predefined event or the single predefined event being triggered by the detection the one or more positions of the smart electric controller relative to the remote control match a predefined condition. 
 
     
     
       2. The smart electric controller of  claim 1 , wherein the binding causes an initialization of a table of commands to be exchanged between the remote control and the smart electric controller, said table of commands matching at least part of the table of data. 
     
     
       3. The smart electric controller of  claim 2 , wherein the initialization results from a copy to/from the memory of the smart electric controller from/to a memory of the remote control of at least part of the table of data. 
     
     
       4. The smart electric controller of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors, wherein some of the data in the memory of the smart electric controller characterize an output of the one of more sensors. 
     
     
       5. The smart electric controller of  claim 4 , wherein the table of commands comprises one or more of change state commands or send sensor output commands. 
     
     
       6. The smart electric controller of  claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause a sensor whose output is listed in the table of data of the smart electric controller to send an output to the remote control when a corresponding received input data is present in a table of data of the remote control. 
     
     
       7. The smart electric controller of  claim 1 , wherein the joining and binding requests from the smart electric controller are received at a network node, the joining and binding requests being transmitted by an electromagnetic signal. 
     
     
       8. The smart electric controller of  claim 1 , further comprising a connection to a power line. 
     
     
       9. The smart electric controller of  claim 1 , wherein the first predefined event or the single predefined event is a validation of a joining request from the smart electric controller received at a network node before a predefined time has elapsed after activation of a connection of the smart electric controller to the power line. 
     
     
       10. The smart electric controller of  claim 1 , wherein the one of the second predefined event or the single predefined event comprises one of a shock, a physical contact, a physical proximity, a change of position or a match of position of the remote control relative to the smart electric controller. 
     
     
       11. The smart electric controller of  claim 1 , wherein the one of the second predefined event or the single predefined event comprises an electromagnetic signal transmitted by the remote control to the smart electric controller. 
     
     
       12. The smart electric controller of  claim 11 , wherein the electromagnetic signal is one of an optical signal, an RFID signal or a NFC signal. 
     
     
       13. The smart electric controller of  claim 1 , wherein the RF network comprises a gateway enabling a communication with the smart electric controller and a user device. 
     
     
       14. The smart electric controller of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to exchange one or more personalizing information with the user device through the gateway. 
     
     
       15. The smart electric controller of  claim 14 , wherein the one or more personalizing information comprise one or more of assigning a location, a type or a program to execute to the smart electric controller. 
     
     
       16. The smart electric controller of  claim 14 , further configured to send data captured at one or more of the smart electric controller or the remote control to the user device through the gateway. 
     
     
       17. An equipment having the smart electric controller of  claim 1  attached thereto, the equipment selected in a group comprising plugs, switches, lamps, heating gear, cooling gear, actionable windows, actionable shutters, actionable blinders, cooking equipment, food preservation equipment, cleaning devices, entertainment devices, security systems.